There is still a shortage of money for Polish science, but our specialists are still quite successful. Prof. Maciej Wiznerowicz from the Greater Poland Cancer Center, who led a team of American and European researchers, proved that esophageal cancer has many varieties. Thanks to this, the treatment of this tumor can finally be personalized. Until now, all patients were subjected to the same treatment, they received “automatically” the same chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The prestigious journal “Nature” informed about the discovery.
Until now, esophageal cancer has been classified using the so-called histological type (glandular and epithelial neoplasms) or anatomical location (cancer of the throat, esophagus, larynx). New research shows that there are many more of these types, and each of them has a different structure (genotype). What does it change? The better known structure of the tumor allows the introduction of the so-called personalized therapy, i.e. a treatment method tailored to the type of tumor. Thus, it will be possible not only to avoid the spread of the change throughout the body, but above all to inhibit its growth. How was this proved?
Researchers looked at changes in the DNA and RNA of selected proteins in cancer cells from 164 patients with esophageal cancer. The results of the analyzes were compared with the previously performed molecular profiles of gastric cancer from 365 patients. The results clearly showed that the results of these analyzes indicated the existence of previously unknown new molecular subtypes, each of which required a different type of treatment.
– Complete knowledge of the biology of head and neck cancers opens up new possibilities both in individual treatment planning and prognosis, but also in early disease detection – says Prof. Maciej Wiznerowicz.
In Poland, more than 1300 people suffer from esophageal cancer annually, and in the world – 400. Mainly men over 40 are ill. Only 15 percent. patients live more than 5 years after diagnosis. According to the National Cancer Registry in Poland, in the first decade of the 7,1st century, the five-year survival rate was 12,8%. in men and XNUMX percent. among women.
The main risk factors for esophageal cancer are smoking, alcohol abuse, HPV papillomavirus infection, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and obesity.
The research in which the Polish scientist participates is carried out as part of the “The Cancer Genome Atlas” (TCGA) project. It assumes the creation of a cancer genome atlas based on the so-called molecular analysis of several thousand tumor samples from 30 types of different types of cancer. The project started in 2015 and is financed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and coordinated by the National Cancer Research Institute in the USA.
Further bioinformatic analyzes of molecular profiles obtained from over 30 types of cancer with the use of artificial intelligence algorithms are currently being carried out. The TCGA PanCancer Atlas project, which is a continuation of the TCGA project, attempted to analyze selected characteristics of cancer responsible for its grade, resistance to treatment and metastasis formation.
Prof. Wiznerowicz coordinates the work of one of the research groups in the PanCancer project involving researchers from centers in the US and Europe, including the Universities of California, Harvard and Stanford as well as Hasselt (Belgium), Van Andel Research Institute, Henry Ford Hospital and others.
TCGA is one of the largest biomedical projects in the world. Several dozen research centers and medical institutions around the world participate in the work. In the hospital in Poznań, work is being carried out on breast cancer, stomach cancer, neoplasms of the head and neck region and melanoma.